The  NATURAL HISTORY ART GALLERY

Hudson River School Painters

The New-York Historical Society Edition

Hanging in the galleries of the New-York Historical Society is one of America’s treasured collections of the first school of landscape painters the young nation could call its own. Thomas Cole began painting scenes of the Hudson River Valley in 1825 and is credited as the founder of the movement which earned its name decades later. Following Cole was a host of superb artists whose work is represented in this historic first print edition of these paintings. Their names now embedded as American greats, include Thomas Hill, Albert Bierstadt, John Frederick Kensett, Thomas Moran, Asher B. Durand, Remy Louis  Gignoux, Frederick Edwin Church, Martin Johnson Heade, Samuel Coleman, Jasper Francis Cropsey, William Trost Richards, John Ferguson Weir, George Inness, Greorge Henry Boughton, and Robert Havell Jr. also famous as the engraver of John James Audubon’s Great work, The Birds of America.

The schools’ esthetic was based in celebrating the breathtaking beauty of the wilderness in the New World. Capturing nature in its most glorious sunset light and serene moments, the landscapes also integrate elements of man and civilization depicting the daily life of the countryside before that impact became intrusive. The Hudson River School of Painting was also an artistic movement. Today, New York City is the center of the art world, but in 1825 there were no art galleries for artists to exhibit work. There was only a loosely bound group of professional artists and students that in 1826 formed the National Academy of Design, the nation’s first institution devoted to the exhibition of contemporary artists. Listed among the founders were Asher B. Durand, Thomas Cole, and Samuel Morse.

 It is always important when considering art history to also see the art in perspective relative to the time in which it was created. Prior to the banding of this group of young artists, study of the visual arts in America was limited to two dimensionally recreating images of plaster casts taken from European sculptures. This practice, no doubt imitating the protocol of the French Academy was challenged by what was to become the Hudson River School Painters in much the same way that Impressionism in Europe challenged the Academy there. Creating paintings from nature that captured its magnificence and also documented the life style progress of the New World became the hallmark of this movement.

We are pleased to present for your pleasure a new print edition of these paintings as they have never been seen before. This museum authorized edition is limited to only 200 of each print. Every print is hand embossed with the New-York Historical Society logo and that of Oppenheimer Editions, the publisher. Also, each print is numbered and stamped with the signature of the President of the New-York Historical Society.

Complete Set of all twenty-five prints $20,000.00. Individual print prices start at $1,500.00 each (see price list)

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